South and West Peewee A Regional Previews

Districts 4 and 5 have played a combined schedule at the peewee A level the past two years.  It makes sense.  As result, both districts A level teams have played a more robust league schedule (13-16 games).  When combined with three to four tourneys, and a 6-10 scrimmages plus district playoffs, the teams in the combined league are playing 40-45 games while minimizing travel.  As a point of comparison, the Edina AA has played 46 games going into the regionals this season.

Districts 4 and 5 combined their playoffs this year.  Their playoff format combined the two districts' five seeds to the South Regional into a single tourney.  A team's seed was determined by playoff finish.  The team that won the playoffs automatically got D4 #1 seed to the South, the runner-up got D5#1 seed to the South.  Hence, Sartell, a D5 team, won D4's #1 seed.

The playoff organizers must have been looking ahead; Sartell draws NOW ranked #26 Hutchinson in the opener.  The playoff runner-up Luverne (with D5's #1 seed), draws #6 ranked Armstrong in the opener.  Sartell’s association is in D5; Luverne’s association is in D4.

The five D4/D5 teams are joined in the South Regional this year with three D3 teams (Hopkins, Armstrong, and Orono).  Hopkins was one of the district playoff surprises last weekend winning D3 playoffs.

The West Regional has three teams from District 15 (Alexandria, Detroit Lakes, and Northern Lakes), three teams from District 10 (Spring Lake Park, St. Francis, and Armstrong) and two teams from District 16 (East Grand Forks and Warroad).  The West Regional has the big potential match-up played in Saturday's 12:30 semifinal between #1 ranked Spring Lake Park and #2 ranked Alexandria.  Both teams have to win their quarterfinal games to get there, but if they do, it will be one of the best peewee regional games played on the weekend.

South Regional Preview

Hopkins vs New Ulm/Sleepy Eye

Hopkins placed fifth in D3’s combined 10 team peewee AA/A league.  In their last four league games they were 1-2-1.  Those losses came at the end of January.  In February, the beat D6 champion Prior Lake A 3-0, D10 regional contender Princeton 5-2, lost to Hermantown AA 3-1, beat D11 champion Denfeld 4-3 before sweeping through the D3 playoffs.  The Royals, as a result, moved to #7 in NOW’s peewee A rankings.

New Ulm/Sleepy Eye took D4’s #2 seed to the South regional by beating Litchfield 2-1 (in a double overtime game), losing to Luverne 6-4 in the semifinals, and beating Sauk Rapids 9-0 for third place in the playoffs.  NUSE finished fourth in regular season play and have gone 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.  One of those eight wins was a 3-2 win over D9 champions Mankato.

Two teams on a winning streak at the end of the season usually mean a toss-up.  The nod here goes to the Royals over the Indians.   

Luverne vs Armstrong

This will be one of the most interesting games to watch.  Luverne has a good set of forwards but Armstrong has a tough defense that has been stingy all year.  Luverne won the D4/D5 regular peewee A season title and placed second to Sartell in the district playoffs (Sartell skated in D4/D5’s AA league in regular season).  The Cardinals have posted a 26-5-3 record this season and have played well in three tourneys (Albert Lea, Rochester, and Luverne) posting a combined tourney record of 7-3-1.  They historically have had 10 forwards on their team (Armstrong has 14) and become the sentimental favorites in out of town tourneys usually featuring strong players.  That is no different this year.

Armstrong skates 14 forwards and is strong featuring one of the best defenses in peewee hockey this year.  They posted a 33-13-2 record this season, took second place in regular season play in D3’s combined peewee AA/A league, and took D3’s #3 seed to the South.  They could not get by Orono in regular season or Hopkins in the D3 playoffs.  But they are a tough team and get the edge against Luverne.  Armstrong wins.

Hutchinson vs Sartell

Sartell played in D5’s Peewee AA league and finished second behind Buffalo.  In the first month of regular season play, they lost and tied to Buffalo AA and tied River Lakes AA.  The Sabres swept the rest of their D5 regular season schedule.  The #10 ranked team posted a 26-10-6 record beating Edina A twice (4-3 and 2-1), Denfeld 1-0, and Luverne 10-3.  They won the D5 title and D4’s #1 seed beating Luverne 6-5 in overtime.

Hutchinson finished second in D5 regular season play behind Luverne.  They finished league play losing three of their last four games, beating only Sauk Rapids 6-1.  After a strong start that included wins over Prior Lake A (4-3) and Waconia (6-5), the Tigers struggled late in the year playing under .500 hockey in late January and February.  After being edged by Sauk Rapids 7-6 in the D4/5 playoff opener, Hutchinson came back to beat Redwood Falls 9-4 and Litchfield to gain the D5’s #3 seed to the South.  

Sartell should win this game.  The Sabres beat the Tigers 5-1 in late January.   

Sauk Rapids vs Orono

Sauk Rapid’s Association’s peewees have improved significantly from last year’s team that won only four games.  The Storm finished third in D5 with a 10-6-0 record and took D5’s #2 seed to the South Regional.  The Storm have beaten Northern Lakes 5-2, lost to Princeton 1-0, beaten NUSE twice, and pushed Sartell and Alexandria before losing in games played six weeks ago.  They can play hockey.

The Storm will be up against a good #8 ranked Orono team.  The Spartans were upset by Hopkins in the D3 playoff championship game 3-1 and had to win a tough double overtime game Sunday evening beating Armstrong 4-3 to take D3’s #2 seed.  Despite losing the playoffs, Orono had a great year winning D3’s regular season title, winning the Hopkins tourney (beating Edina A 3-2 and Highland 4-1), and winning the Hibbing tourney (12 teams entered).  Orono wins.    

South Tourney Winners

If the predictions hold, Saturday’s semifinals would match Hopkins and Armstrong in one game; Orono and Sartell in the second game in the morniing.  Armstrong beats Hopkins and Orono beats Sartell.  Luverne beats NUSE to send the Indians home; Hutchinson beats Sauk Rapids to send the Storm home.  Saturday evening, Sartell beats Luverne to send the Cardinals home; Hopkins beats Hutchinson to send the Tigers home.

Sunday, Orono beats Armstrong to take South’s #1 seed to the state tourney; Sartell beats Hopkins to send the Royals home.  Sunday afternoon in the final elimination game, Sartell edges Armstrong for the #2 seed to the state tourney.

West Regional Preview

Alexandria vs East Grand Forks

East Grand Forks is a surprise entry in this year’s West Regional edging Crookston twice to advance as D16#2 seed.  The Blue Liners have produced some top peewee A teams in the past six years, but this year’s team has struggled to get to .500.  After getting thumped by Minnetonka AA 13-0 in the opening pool game of the Roseau Tourney, the Green Wave came back playing well in losing to Stillwater AA 4-2 and Brainerd AA 4-2.    

Alexandria was a surprise this season.  Nobody even had the Cardinals on their crystal ball.  They tore through the teams entered in Burnsville’s Thanksgiving tourney and kept on going, winning at Warroad, winning their own tourney, winning D15 regular season, and winning D15 playoffs.  Their only blemish this season when it came to hardware was a 6-4 loss to Cloquet AA in the Roseau championship game.

The #2 ranked peewee A team in the state, Alexandria has posted a 43-6-1 record this season.  In a tune-up for the West Regional, Alex lost 3-2 to #13 ranked Brained AA last weekend.  Alex wins.

Spring Lake Park vs Northern Lakes

Some may be surprised to see the Northern Lakes’ Association peewee A team in the West Regional.  The Lightning opened their season on a down note, going 3-10-2 in their first 15 games.  At the Brainerd Tourney in early December, they opened with losses to Mankato (6-1) and Spring Lake Park (8-1), two top ranked teams.  They came back to with their last two tourney games and put together a six game winning streak before tying Apple Valley in the Bloomington Tourney.  Since then they have played well and come out of the D15 playoffs on a high note winning three of the four playoff games.

Spring Lake Park, the NOW ranked #1 peewee A team in the state, has played consistently all year.  The Panthers opened their season winning the home tourney playing three tough opponents (White Bear Lake A 4-2, Armstrong 1-0, and Denfeld 5-0).  The Park went on from there to win the Edina A tourney (beating the host #9 ranked Edina 2-1 in the championship game and #3 ranked Chaska Chanhansen A 3-1 in pool play), took second at St. Cloud (losing to Bismarck ND 3-2), took second at Brainerd (losing to the Minneapolis Storm 6-4), won D10’s regular season title, and won D10’s playoffs.

The Panthers should advance.

Warroad vs Princeton

Warroad won the D16 peewee AA/A league and won the D16 peewee A playoffs.  They are 6-1-1 in February tying Grand Rapids AA 5-5 and losing to arch rival Roseau 6-5.  In their home tourney at the end of January, the Warriors took second place beating Forest Lake AA, Dryden, and Devils Lake ND before losing to #2 ranked Alexandria 4-2.  They have beaten D12 champs Virginia twice (3-2 and 2-1) and have lost a tough game to #3 ranked Sibley AA.  Warroad has posted a 27-14-0 going into Regional play.

Princeton finished in the middle of D10’s peewee A league with a 10-8-2 record.  After getting beat in the opening round of the D10 playoffs by Coon Rapids 6-3, the Tigers came back to beat Anoka 3-2, Centennial 4-3 in overtime, and Andover 3-2 to take D10’s #3 seed to the West.  Princeton ended their season playing in Alexandria’s tourney the first week of February and Hermantown’s the second week.  At Alex, they lost to Grafton-Park River ND in their first game.  In Hermantown’s tourney, the eight team field had four teams that made the peewee A regionals (Princeton, Hopkins, Highland, and Denfeld).  They lost in the consolation finals to Neebing ON 5-0.

Warroad wins.

St. Francis vs Detroit Lakes

St. Francis finished second in D10 behind Spring Lake Park.  They posted a 12-5-3 league record.  In the D10 playoffs Fighting Saints beat Anoka 4-3 in overtime and beat Coon Rapids 5-2 in the semifinals, but lost to Spring Lake Park 6-4 in the championship game and took the #2 seed to the West.  Late in the regular season, St. Francis was playing .500 hockey.

Detroit Lakes almost lost their opening D5 playoff game.  After finishing second in regular season play, Prairie Center almost upended the Lakers before they could get going.  Detroit Lakes held on to win 3-2.  They then beat Fergus Falls 4-1, but lost to Alexandria 3-0 in the championship game and ended taking the #2 seed to the West.  The Lakers came on strong in last year’s regional and almost made the state tourney.  With six players back from that team, they could be a threat in this years regional.  Lakers win.

West Tourney Winners

In what should be one of the best games in the peewee A regionals this year, Alex and Spring Lake Park meet in Saturday’s first semifinal game.  The Panthers win in a donnybrook.  Warroad beats Detroit Lakes in the second semifinal.  Northern Lakes beast East Grand Forks to send the Green Wave home; St. Francis beats Princeton to send the Tigers home.  In Saturday evening games, Detroit Lakes beats Northern Lakes to send the Lightning home; Alexander beats St. Francis to send the Fighting Saints home.

Sunday morning, Spring Lake Park beats Warroad to take the West’s #1 seed to state; Alexandria beats Detroit Lakes and plays Warroad in the final elimination game.  Alex has just enough depth at forward to hold off the Warriors.  Cardinals advance with the #2 seed.

The Potential State Tourney Draw

If all the predictions made in the last two posts happened, it would be a shock.  If it did, Friday, March 14, in Crookston would have Spring Lake Park opening the State Peewee A Tourney playing Sartell.  In the second game, Highland would play Edina.  The evening games would match Orono and Alexandria and Farmington and Virginia.